


To Be a Grown-Up Like George

by embro



Category: Union J (Band)
Genre: Fluff, GOSH, George being giggly, George owns a coffee shop, I don't know anything about the law and policemen and things so just go with it, Josh being self-deprecating, Josh is a cop, M/M, Prompt Fill, a bit of flirting, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 03:59:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embro/pseuds/embro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:<br/>Can I have a fic where George owns a coffee shop and he's always getting vandalized and having property destroyed. So! Josh the cop comes to investigate and hang around to see who's doing it while discouraging further incidents. Only- they went to school together and George was bullied and Josh hasn't seen him for a long time so he barely recognizes him and I dunno lots of nervous!shy!George who's clumsy and adorable and giggly and bunches of protective!Josh who is endlessly amazed by the monkey puzzle George</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Be a Grown-Up Like George

**Author's Note:**

> I remade on [Tumblr ](http://harryventura.tumblr.com)

George shouldn’t have been surprised, really, when he’d rounded the corner of Burke Street and was met by a brand new splash of graffiti all over his shop. There was _Porgie_ and _Oink_ scribbled all over the door and windows and outer brick wall. And George had brushed it off the last few times; just scrubbed at his store front until the place was sparkling, opening up a little later and losing a few customers in the process. He’d thought that yeah, it was hurtful and frustrating to still have this stuff happen to him three years out of school. He’d laugh under his breath at how sad they must be to bother, that they were still caught up on maintaining the social hierarchy to a school class that had already graduated. 

But back then it was just his locker being vandalised or his lunch money stolen; not spray paint over his shop and smashed windows and missing equipment. They’d had to have caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage by now, and George didn’t know why it was today of all days, but he snapped. He’d finally had enough.

\--

Josh always got called to check up on this sort of stuff. He was the youngest, but he wasn’t the newest, and he was hoping that when he went into the station that morning he’d be given something more exciting or challenging then another vandal case. But here he was again, outside of a building covered in paint, pushing at a door that rocked on its hinges. 

He took off his cap as he entered, looking around him. There were paintings of animals and beaches and old men on the walls; fake plants and real plants in brightly coloured vases; an old rusty bicycle leaning against the exposed-brick wall. And Josh wondered whether a bit of vandalising inside would do the place some good. 

He finally looked over at the boy behind the counter, who was all wide-eyes and feathery hair, and nodded his greeting. “Can I talk to the owner, please?” 

The boy seemed to get smaller as Josh got closer, and by the time they only had the counter between them the boy was bright pink. He didn’t speak until Josh raised a brow. “I am, Cu- uh, officer.” He stuttered, and there was something a little familiar about that stutter and those eyes and those plump cheeks. 

“Shelley?” Josh asked, and the boy nodded. He grinned and let his eyes wander over George Shelley’s frame, because time had done this kid some good. From what Josh remembered, and he didn’t remember much, George had been a short chubby kid who liked making movies on his handheld camera and singing in choirs and talking about computer games. Josh had never really spoken to him at school, they weren’t exactly in the same cliques, but he’d heard things from his mates. So all Josh really knew was that George was in the year below him and wasn’t very popular, and when he turned sixteen he had a growth spurt and lost some weight but was still stuck with the name _Porgey_. “You own a shop? At nineteen?” Josh asked, because as shocking as George’s physical transformation was, no one could possibly have their life sorted at their age. 

“Yeah,” George’s eyes flickered down to his fingers, strumming on the countertop. “My boss gave it to me. My old boss, Mr Goods. He got too old and didn’t have kids so he left it to me to manage because I’ve been here since I was fourteen.” 

Josh blinked at the sudden spillage of words. “Have you considered redecorating?”

George frowned. “I did.” 

Josh cleared his throat. “Right. Uh, I’m here about the vandals.” 

George grinned, and it was quite lovely. He had nice teeth and his lips were very pink and stretched wide around them, and smiling just rounded his cheeks beautifully. “I figured that, when you walked in wearing that uniform.” And the way he laughed was quick and high pitched and sounded suspiciously like a giggle. But boys didn’t really giggle, did they? “Would you like a coffee? Maybe we could sit down and talk about it?” 

“Yeah, alright.” Josh said as he sat down at the table closest to him; one with a plant that _looked_ real, but Josh wasn’t one hundred percent sure. He took a leaf between his thumb and index finger to feel it. 

“That’s real, that one.” George said with one of his strange laughs. Josh noticed this time how his nose crinkled up when he laughed, and how his shoulders bounced a little. It was quite endearing. 

Josh noticed a lot of little things like that about George. He could put it down to his training, how making observations had become automatic when meeting new people. But usually he didn’t take quite so much notice of others’ lips and eyes and blushing cheeks. Or the way their hair fell into their eyes and how they would brush it out with just the one finger. 

So Josh cleared his throat when George sat opposite him, as if that might also clear his mind so he could focus on what he was there for; to catch George’s vandals. 

Josh took the mug in his hand, warming his hands a little before taking a sip. “Do you have any enemies?”

And George smiled. “Oh, I can tell you who it is. Do you remember Doug and Darren and Drew from school?” 

And Josh had to grin back, because he remembered them quite clearly. They were all on the football team with him, and they sat in the same group at lunch, but Josh didn’t have much to do with them. They called themselves the _D’s_ , and Josh tried not to associate with people that gave themselves nicknames like that. So he nodded and asked “What makes you think it’s them?”

George blushed and bit his bottom lip, and his ever-present smile and laughing eyes just dropped away. “The words written out the front, did you read them?”

Josh nodded. “What do they mean?”

“The D’s used to call me that in school. Georgie Porgie and little piggy and things like that.” George answered in a voice so close to a whisper that Josh barely heard. It was quite heart-breaking, really, to hear George like that and see him shrinking so small when seconds ago he had seemed loud and big and beautiful. He was still beautiful though – he just shone a little dimmer. 

“So you’re sure it’s them?” When Josh spoke, his voice had a harder edge to it and it made George flinch. “We just need evidence. Did you see them?” he asked, kinder this time, because he didn’t want George thinking he was mad. Which he was, mad that is, just not at George. He felt a little sick that anyone could make George so small. 

“No, I just know.” He replied in his tiny voice, eyes on his hands that were tapping on the table. 

And Josh could have left then. He had a suspect, three in fact, and it probably wouldn’t have taken much digging to nail the guys. But he didn’t _want_ to go. He wanted to learn more about George; the boy who owned a business at nineteen and was bullied at school but was just so beautiful for so many reasons that Josh couldn’t even name. He looked beautiful, and sounded beautiful, and somehow even felt it. And Josh couldn’t leave until he had an answer for how this boy across a small eroded wooden table from him could have him feeling so much so soon. 

\--

George didn’t know why Josh was here, but he liked it. It made him feel safer, even though he never had anything to really worry about. They’d never come to the store during the day, the D’s. It was only ever overnight, and George told Josh that, but Josh was still hanging about like he was waiting for them to walk through the door holding a coffee machine or three. 

So Josh got up to examine the damage when the first customer came in. 

She was a regular, always ordering a skinny latte with a double chocolate muffin, and she was used to the graffiti. 

“Still haven’t caught him?” she’d always ask, and today was no different.

“No, Mrs Wallace. But did you see the policeman I was with? He’s going to catch them.”

She smiled. “Yes, I saw him. He was very handsome.” And George blushed, because he’d always thought so too. 

He made the latte to thoughts of Josh Cuthbert, comparing him now to the boy he remembered from school. And they didn’t look all that different; they had the same strong jaw and pouty mouth and cold blue eyes. But the Josh in the uniform outside his shop didn’t feel so scary. George would never have thought that he’d see a Josh Cuthbert smile, but he’d seen at least three just this morning. He saw his hair a little messy from the hat, for once not perfectly coifed; even in the middle of a heated football game Cuthbert’s hair had still miraculously remained perfect. George had never thought much of Josh at school, considering he had hung around with the boys that had made his life hell. But he thought that if High School-Josh was anything like policeman-Josh, they would have got along just fine. 

 

After an onslaught of customers had all been served, George went out the front to check on Josh. Who was on his hands and knees, scrubbing at the paint on the walls. 

“It’s a lot easier then it looks, don’t you think?” George asked, making Josh jump and look up. His eyes looked especially nice in the sun. George laughed that stupid giggle he hated, but it made Josh smile and he didn’t hate that. 

“You’re kidding, right?” 

George shrugged, because he wasn’t but maybe it would make Josh feel better if he thought he was. “Aren’t you destroying evidence?”

Josh grinned in an impish kind of way, and George wished he could do that; smile without looking like an overexcited toddler. “There’s not much evidence to destroy, really. I’ve taken a paint sample, and some photos, but that’s all I really need. Plus, I was thinking, if the writing was still here by tonight then the suspects won’t be back.”

George frowned. “We want them back tonight?” 

“Well, yeah. I was thinking I’d stay overnight to catch them out. If it’s alright with you, I could just stay in the store and when I hear something I could go out and arrest them. It would be very handy if we could catch them in the act, don’t you think?” The way Josh spoke made George smile. His words came out quick, and like maybe Josh was more like an excitable child then he originally thought. 

“When you say _we catch them_ , are you saying that I can stay too?” 

Josh grinned and nodded and said “I was hoping you would.”

\--

This was a bad idea for so many reasons, because it meant a George in monkey pyjamas and a beanie and slippers, and Josh didn’t think he could handle so much adorable. George packed for what was beginning to feel like a slumber party in a coffee shop rather than a stake out, with sleeping bags and pillows. 

“We’ve got all the leftover muffins and things to eat, too!” George said from his blanket fort. He’d got a bit bored after an hour, and pushed all the tables to the side and used the chairs in his creation.

“Are you sure you’re nineteen?” Josh had asked when George had finished it. 

“It’s not that much older than twelve, really. I’ve got the rest of my life to be grown up.” And Josh saw the logic in that, he supposed. Just, didn’t George have other things he was concerned about more than staying young? Like going after girls and hanging out with friends? Didn’t everyone look forward to being old once they hit fourteen? “Have you got a girlfriend?”

Josh was a little startled by the interruption to his thoughts, so it took him a moment to reply. “No, I haven’t.” 

“Are- do you have a boyfriend?” George asked next, and Josh shouldn’t have been surprised by the question because there was always that rumour at school. That Josh was gay because he was good friends with Jaymi Hensley, and kissed a boy at a party that practically the whole school was invited to. And maybe he did like boys, just a little more than girls, but it wasn’t anyone else’s business. 

“No, have you?” Josh snapped back, and he felt a little guilty because George cowered back into his blanket fort so only his feet were poking out. 

“No.” he squeaked. “But –“ and he stopped, and Josh waited for more with a breath caught in his lungs, but there was nothing else. 

So he prompted him with a “But?” 

And George exhaled loudly with something like a sigh and said “But sometimes I think I would like one. A boyfriend, I mean.” 

Josh hadn’t expected that. He’d hoped it, somewhere deep down, but he didn’t think George was like that, like _him_ , and the thought made him feel a little giddy. “Oh.”

George poked his head out from between the blankets with a pout and a raised brow. “Oh?”

Josh grinned. “Yeah, oh. I’m – I guess I feel that way too sometimes. Like I’d like a boyfriend or something.”

And then George smiled, one of his big full-cheeked, stretched lipped, bright ones. “Oh.”

And if Josh was cheeky and brave like George, he would have asked him out to dinner then and there. George really was beautiful, and charming and endearing, and had Josh smitten after less than a day. But Josh was cold and hard and his personality was buried deep beneath the surface, so he didn’t see how George could possibly feel the same way. 

George shuffled out from his blanket fort to sit by Josh’s side. “It’s a bit scary in here, isn’t it?” 

Josh frowned and shrugged and replied “No, not really.” But then a bang sounded and Josh was on his feet, putting himself between George and where the noise came from. 

“J-“ George started, but Josh shushed him and pulled out his gun, and George’s eyes widened at the sight of it. Josh squeezed George’s shoulder, trying to be comforting because the boy had wrapped himself around his leg. He mouthed for George to let go, and he did, immediately crawling into his fort while Josh approached the back door, where the noise had come from. 

His breathing grew ragged, and his stomach was coiling, and he had his gun out in front of him when he pulled the door open with a “Freeze!” 

But it was just a storage closet, and it had just been a broom that had fallen down, and he was in the middle of turning around when George jumped onto his back with a squawk. 

Josh hadn’t expected it, so he fell back with the weight and landed between George’s widespread legs, rolling around quickly because he’d heard George made a pained whoosh sound. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, a little manic because George sounded hurt and he didn’t like to think he could hurt George.

But George was smiling, like usual, only his cheeks were a little redder and his eyes looked a bit watery. “I’m fine.” And he broke out into a fit of giggles that had Josh pushing himself up with a smile. He held out his hand and George took it, still laughing into his shirt. “I knew it was the broom! I knew it and I was going to tell you but –“ he sucked in a huge breath “but you pulled out a gun! And then I wanted to see what you would do!” 

“It’s probably not the best thing, to sneak up on someone holding a gun.” Josh chastised, but he couldn’t help but smile through it because it was hard not to when George was still trying to catch his breath from laughing too hard. 

 

That had been the most excitement they got during the night. Josh had sat back on a pillow on the floor, and George settled into his fort, and they spoke and spoke until George started nodding off. 

It had been silent for a while, and Josh figured George fell asleep until he heard him whispering his name. 

“Yeah?” 

“Can you come in here?” George asked in his small voice, and Josh couldn’t say no to that. 

So he popped his head through the small opening and grinned at George who was snuggled deep into his sleeping bag, hands resting on his chest, beanie between his fingers. 

George only gave him a small smile in return. “Can you stay in here please?”

Josh grimaced, because he wouldn’t be able to see out the front window from in there. 

“I’m- It’s a bit scary in here, don’t you think?” George asked, and it sounded so similar to earlier, before the broom crashing incident. 

“No.” Josh replied with a little smile, because he was waiting for some kind of trick but the way George’s eyes dropped down to his fingers, fingers that were beginning to tap a rhythm on his chest, told him that maybe George was genuinely frightened. “A little bit, I guess. Can I come in?” 

And George nodded his head vigorously and shuffled back to make some room. Josh sat down next to him, head pushing up the roof a bit. “Did you want to lie down?” 

Josh nodded and George pulled out a pillow from underneath his head and put it by his side, so Josh lay back and stared up at the blanket that was covered in puppies. 

“George? Where did all these blankets come from?” 

George sniggered and Josh looked over to watch him, and it became a little harder to breathe because their noses weren’t all that far from touching. “It was one of my decoration ideas that failed. I wanted lots of little blanket forts here, and I tried it for a few days, but no one ever went in them. I guess I should have known really, because grown ups don’t go in blanket forts and only grown ups drink coffee.” 

Josh pouted and his heart leapt because George’s eyes dropped down to his lips. “Are you calling me a grown up, George?”

And George laughed his sweet laugh. “You’ve got a gun, Josh. I don’t think you can get much more grown up then that.” 

“Oh, you can get a lot more grown up then that. Besides, this one doesn’t even work. It’s just for show.” 

George’s lips tightened and his brows creased and Josh thought that maybe he looked quite upset. “But what do you use to protect yourself? When you’re out fighting bad guys all day, can’t you get hurt?” 

A bubble of _something_ burst inside Josh, and he wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or astonishment or delight or just plain tenderness, but he was quite flattered that George was so concerned for him. “I’ve got a Taser. And a baton, but I’d like to think I’d never use it.”

“Oh, well at least that’s something.” George said with a smile and a nod, and rolled onto his side to face Josh. “Can you tell me some stories? About you fighting crime? I imagine it’s a lot more exciting then what I do.” 

“You seem like the type that can make even the dullest situations exciting though.” Josh said, and was a little surprised when George blushed because he supposed it sounded flirty, but he meant it. Josh didn’t know anyone quite like George. “But I’ll tell you some stories if you like.” 

\--

George woke up to the sound of cars outside, and when he cracked open his eyes he was startled to find Josh’s face right in front of his, a mere inch apart. And George shuffled back a little on his pillow so he could get a better look at how they were. He grinned, because Josh was holding his hands between their chests and he remembered how a noise had frightened him and Josh grabbed his hands and just held them until he fell asleep. And it did funny things to George’s belly, thinking that Josh fell asleep with their fingers entwined. So he giggled his childish giggle because he couldn’t work out how else to get rid of the feeling, and Josh woke with a start. He looked around him and noticed their hands but didn’t pull them apart. Instead he grinned back at George and all the boy could do was return it, even if his cheeks were aching from smiling so much. 

But then Josh’s face dropped and he pulled his hand away to dig into his pocket and pull out his phone. “It’s past seven!” Josh suddenly said, and his forehead was crinkled and his mouth tight and his eyes jumped about a little crazed before he was pushing the blanket off him and crawling out of the fort. 

George followed when his brain caught up, getting out just as Josh was pulling open the front door. And Josh made a strange growly noise that had George running to see what was the matter. It was just more words scribbled on his store, but Josh looked completely distraught.

“I’m sorry.” He grumbled at his shoes, and George nudged him with his shoulder until he looked up. 

“It’s alright, really.” 

“But I didn’t catch them. I fell asleep and I wasted your time.” 

“Do you think it was a waste of time?” 

And Josh sighed and shook his head. “I- I had a lot of fun last night.” 

And George gripped Josh’s hand in his and smiled his biggest smile. “I did too. But, there’s still some bad guys to catch. I think it means another stake out, don’t you?” 

But Josh shook his head and said “I’m going to get these guys today. And tonight, we’re going to make blanket forts somewhere a little more comfortable than a cold coffee shop. Would you like to come to mine tonight George?”

And George pushed through the pain of his aching cheeks to grin a little wider. “Would it be like a date?” 

A blush spread over Josh’s cheeks. “If you like.”

“I would like it to.” 

Josh smiled down at their hands, still clenched tight. “Then yes, it will be a date. We’ll toast marshmallows in my fireplace and we’ll pretend we’re camping.” 

George laughed, bringing his spare hand up to cover his blushing cheeks. “Grown ups don’t have an imagination like yours, Josh.”

And Josh shrugged, a smile playing at his lips. “I guess I’m not all that grown up after all.”


End file.
